Life stories are fascinating. I especially love hearing the stories of how greatness became possible because of the adversity someone travailed through in order to gather the strength or courage needed to address the difficult circumstance in their life. It is inspiring. I’ve never heard of a story of true greatness that started any other way. There is always a difficult mountain to climb.

Sometimes that difficult mountain to climb is in the area of forgiveness. We all need God’s forgiveness, for we all do things that hurt the heart of God and hurt others. No exemptions. When we are faced with our own sins it can be hard to imagine that we could rise out of the rut we have dug for ourselves. We may even consider the thought that God could forgive us, but we can’t see ourselves as anything other than someone who did such bad things that we are stuck in that rut forever. Perhaps, we have not really sensed the complete forgiveness that Christ offers.

Jesus had a life story that shed light on these thoughts:

“A man loaned money to two people – 500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that? Luke 7:41-42

Most obviously the one who loved more was the one who was forgiven of the greater sins. We run toward the person who offers us complete acceptance and grace after we have blown it really big. Great forgiveness makes great love possible.

That’s why Easter is the cause for the greatest celebration! We, no matter what we have done or who we have become can come running to Jesus because He died on the cross to allow complete forgiveness with God. And it didn’t stop there. He rose from the dead on Easter morning demonstrating His power over death, over sin, over everything that makes us think that God can’t truly forgive whatever we have done. He kindly offers all-embracing forgiveness and the complete cancelling of our debt. He truly offers us a clean slate.

In response, our love for Jesus can give us strength, courage and confidence to face whatever situation causes adversity in our lives. When we know we are forgiven and loved much, great and amazing life stories are possible!